Abstract
How do we think about the word politeia when this involves a reaching back to the past? The response, pursued in this paper, is that in the classical understanding of politeia there is a significant connection between the question of the ‘good’ and the constitution; a connection which has become occluded or obscured by modern constitutional thought. In support of this understanding of politeia it must be acknowledged that what is meant, in this paper, by ‘good’ is very different from that conventionally found in contemporary constitutional, legal or political theory. In an effort to disclose how politeia unravels this novel sense of ‘the good’ the paper will closely consider the philosophical work of Hans-Georg Gadamer on Plato. The paper claims that this largely neglected work is of importance to contemporary constitutional philosophy, particularly in so far as it focuses, as in this paper, on classical traditions or origins within constitutional thought.
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Notes
We can further suggest that the notion of application also includes the tendency of adapting modernist constitutional theory to the de-centred contemporary governance demands.
For example, Sophist, Timaeus, Menexenus as well as the non-dialogue works such as the Republic and The Laws.
The reference to ontology is implied to be ‘fundamental’. There are significant connections between the later works of Merleau-Ponty, which had become increasingly influenced by Heidegger, and the development of Lefort’s own approach to the political question: for further discussion see, Flynn (2005).
Marchart argues that Machiavelli serves as the precursor for the various dialectic accounts of the political from Marx to Schmitt.
Not to be confused with an idea of a metaphysical foundation.
An illustration of this can be found in a quotation that Heinze takes from Kelsen, ‘As to the idea of absolute Goodness, [Plato] even expressly states it lies beyond all rational knowledge’.
Heinze emphasises that these simplistic approaches to Plato say more about our twentieth century experiences of totalitarian regimes as opposed to finding anything authentic in Plato.
Such a ‘balance’ clearly enables us to appreciate the distinction that emerged between the Gadamerian approach to the legacy of Heidegger and ‘Destruktion’ the approach of Derrida as deconstruction. There is, of course, much literature exploring this point. In addition to the infamous meeting in Paris between Derrida and Gadamer published with commentary in Michelfelder and Palmer (1989), there is also a useful additional commentary on this encounter and the implications of it in Janicaud (2005).
For instance, Swayne-Barthold (2010) maintains a transcendental reading of : ‘the philosophical life and the pursuit of the idea of the good have in common that both are always on the way to something beyond human existence’, xxi.
As has already been remarked this association between Plato and ‘natural law’ has tended to blight any serious and close examination of the significance of the writings for contemporary legal theory.
This can be referred to in different ways as the ‘one’ and the ‘many’ or the ‘unity’ and ‘multiplicity’.
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Gibbs, A.H. The Horizons of the Constitution: Politeia, the Political Regime and the Good. Law Critique 27, 83–102 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-015-9166-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-015-9166-8